Comments on: Scruggs in guilty plea

By: Tom T.

Tom T. — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:47:32 +0000

I was too cute, and Walter’s analysis is better than mine.

By: Deoxy

Deoxy — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:20:50 +0000

“Jason, isn’t that the logic of punitive damages?”

No, the logic of punitives is to give proper incentives to large corporations or wealthy individuals, for whom a few hundred thousand dollars is no big deal.

By: Walter Olson

Walter Olson — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 19:16:26 +0000

Tom T.’s point is perhaps a little too cute. Neither Jason nor anyone else on this site has called for Scruggs to be _punished_ for the other instances of misconduct whose likelihood is inferred, except insofar as they are brought in separate charges and proved at trial. So the appropriate parallel would be to the adverse inferences that might be drawn as a purely reputational matter against Ford after a rollover verdict.

By: Tom T.

Tom T. — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 12:15:30 +0000

Jason, isn’t that the logic of punitive damages? “Wouldn’t it be a coincidence if this was the only Ford truck with a rollover problem?”

By: Steve Eugster

Steve Eugster — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 20:47:48 +0000

For your information -- earwigging in Mississippi and the Scruggs Litigation: http://wikiscruggs.blogspot.com/2008/03/earwigging-mississippi-tradition.html

By: Jason Barney

Jason Barney — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:14:11 +0000

It would be quite the coincidence, don’t you think that the *only* time he ever bribed a judge he was caught?

By: JB

JB — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:24:02 +0000

In light of this guilty plea, and the allegations in the DeLaughter case, one has to wonder how many judges and court officials he has successfully managed to bribe to gain successful outcome for himself.

Can defendants who have been on the wrong end of decisions have those cases reopened or appealed?